One principal drawback of semitrailer landing gears is that they damage and shorten the life of pavements, particularly asphalt pavements. The greatest damage occurs when asphalt pavements are soft during high temperature days, when semitrailers are parked for considerable amounts of time, and when landing gears contact obstacles, such as debris and stones. The damage occurs in the form of pits, cracks, marks and depressions which deteriorate the appearance, collect water, damage seal coats and shorten a pavement's life.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to eliminate the damage caused by semitrailer landing gears on pavements, reduce the maintenance costs of pavements and extend the lives of pavements and landing gears.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved landing gear shoe which can be mounted on existing landing gears.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved landing gear plate which can be mounted on existing landing gear shoes and to support additional heavier semitrailer loads.